Present at the Second Railway Congress of Russian Railways, held in Moscow on 18 and 19 November, the President of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, talked about the evolution of reform in the Russian railway industry, but also about the railway transport and infrastructure modernisation projects carried out in the four years that had passed since the First Congress of RZD, in 2007. The projects related to the company’s future expansion were also among the topics debated in Moscow.
“To maintain a close relationship with foreign railway industry partners, a company has to prove the efficiency of its management and credibility in signing partnerships”, declared Vladimir Yakunin.
The reform of the railway system in Russia has held an important position on RZD’s agenda in the past four years.
“Russian Railways has finalized the third stage of reform, currently being at the beginning of the fourth, the company thus making significant structural changes. Important subsidiaries have been established, such as the Federal Passenger Company, but also Freight One and Freight Two, in case of freight transport, as well as companies dealing with rol-ling stock repairs. The established subsidiaries bring incomes of more than RUB 500 Billion (EUR 12 Billion) every year”, pointed out Yakunin.
“It is necessary to carry out railway infrastructure development programmes especially for cross-border regions. The modernisation of the railway infrastructure has not been dictated only by the increase of traffic speed, but also for ensuring the passengers’ safety”, stated Valentina Matviyenko, President of the Federation Council of Russia.
Moreover, despite the different problems mainly caused by the economic recession which has also affected railway transport, the suburban passenger transport system has been radically changed, currently including 26 independent companies, while the freight transport market has been redesigned. The reform was aimed at increasing the attractiveness and efficiency of railways.
“Despite limited investment funds, Russian Railways have focused on the modernisation and development of railway infrastructure, with investments over the past four years exceeding RUB 1,000 Billion (EUR 24 Billion) in infrastructure modernisation. The Federal Passenger Company has received subsidies of RUB 68 Billion (EUR 1.7 Billion) for passenger transport development. By 2015, RZD will invest RUB 400 Billion (EUR 10 Billion) for the development of the most important infrastructure projects”, added Yakunin.
“We have to focus on delivering an efficient passenger transport system. The development programme by 2015 includes modernisation and construction of railway transport infrastructure, but unfortunately the federal budget cannot grant a large amount for investments”, declared Igor Levitin, the Russian Minister of Transport.
However, significant progress in improving the passenger transport infrastructure and in modernising the rail stations has been achieved and RZD has accepted the moder-nisation of the railway hub to Moscow. As for the railway high-speed transport, more than 4,7 million passengers have been carried between Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod since the launch of the Sapsan trains and over 300,000 passenger have travelled between Saint Petersburg and Helsinki (Finland) with Allegro trains.
“Baikal – Amur line is an important project of Russian Railways, but it requires a large amount of investments. Once upgraded, railway transport on this route will boost and will permit an efficient connection with Asian countries”, said Vadim Morozov, Vice President of RZD.
Under the 2030 Strategy, over the next two decades, railway high-speed transport will be developed reaching from the present 650 km to 10.887 km. However, railway high-speed projects require a large investment amount from Russian Railways and are usually planned for a period of time between three and five years.
The development of rapid transport will not only occur in the regions of the Russian Federation capitals, but also in Far East, in the river basin of Volga and in the south of Russia. As part of the project for reinforcing a rapid connection between Moscow and Sochi, the current line will be rehabilitated and the process is underway. To avoid the hub in Rostov, a bridge across the Don River will be built, thus cutting the time travel from Moscow to Sochi from 36 to 15 hours. The route along the coast of the Black Sea, between Tuapse and Adler could be transferred through a tunnel or an alternative mountainous route. By 2030, the length of high-speed lines will reach up to 1.500 km. Choosing between the options of building high-speed line to link Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow – Smolensk – Krasnoe (western border) will be determined by the dynamics of the social-economic development of Russia.
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